Lily's First Walk

Happy Birthday Rich!!! We wish we could be at home to party with you, but we know you'll have a good time with everyone there. Thanks for being the best brother in the whole world!

Speaking of birthdays, since Tiger Lily will be turning the big #1 later this month, Greg and I thought we would get her an early birthday present: a kitty leash. Her favorite thing to do is look out the window, and she always seems a bit jealous when the doggies get to go outside, so we figured she might like exploring a little bit. We started out nice and easy--just in the front yard--and she was very intrigued with all of the new sights and sounds. Here is what Lily thought of her first walk:

"Ooozy doozy, Mom and Dad. This place is kinda scawy when der no screen in fronta me."








"What wuz dat big scawy thing dat make so much noisy? Dat wut you brought me in when I wuz baby cat?" (She's very leery of cars.)







"Hmmmm, der sho' a lot to see out here."



"What you call these? Fowlers? Mmmmmm, dey smells nummy. I luv dem."


"I luv it out here. I can stick out my tongue at de little birds who teez me when I'z stuck inside."





After a little while outside she really seemed to enjoy it. But now she is pooped--too much excitement for one day! She has spent the evening just lounging around the house. Earlier today Lily and I took a nap on the bed, and it was sooooo cute: she put her paw in my hand and held my hand the whole time! She is such a sweet kitty.

Zion!

Hooray for dry heat! It's amazing how much cooler heat feels when you don't have 110% humidity to go along with it. Greg and I spent an absolutely wonderful vacation in Arizona and Utah. On Wednesday, July 22, we flew from Peoria to Phoenix. It was probably 110 degrees outside, but it actually felt pretty nice. Greg's parents live in Gilbert, Arizona, and we had a nice time visiting them. On Thursday the four of us took a trip up to Sedona. It was so beautiful there!

Can you believe that Greg took this cool picture of the Arizona countryside from a moving vehicle? Nice shot, Greg--cacti and all. It really is pretty there. And warm. And dry.

On Friday, Greg and I left early in the morning to head up to my favorite place on earth: Springdale, Utah, where we met up with the Taylor/Barrett/Agate families. It was so wonderful to see everyone! We were just missing Rich--but we're glad he had a good weekend at home. The first matter of business once everyone arrived in town was, of course, swimming. Here are Sid and Gramma at the pool.

And Camden trying out the slide.

Eliza thought the pool was pretty great too.

And Sid even tried the slide with Daddy Nate.

Riley and Camden were loving the slide.

I had to leave the swimming fun to go down the street to Sundancer Books where I had my first of two book signings. I really like the people there at Sundancer and was excited to hear that they have sold 101 copies of the book since November! We didn't have a huge crowd there, but it was fun nonetheless.

There is no better place to celebrate Pioneer Day than small town southern Utah. We had a wonderful evening over in Rockville at the annual Pioneer Day Picnic. It was so much fun!

Sid even tried her hand at feeding Cousin Eliza. The girls especially enjoyed the snow cones and candy cannon.

Saturday morning started out with a beautiful sunrise on West Temple! We had a yummy breakfast in our family suite at Zion Park Motel, and then we all took off for the canyon.

Eliza was ready for a fun adventure.

And so was Sid.

Camden, Riley, Gramma, and Grampa were ready to go too!

Because of another book signing, "Uncle Greggy" and I had to head back early, but we still enjoyed the scenery.

After their hike, the rest of the gang came and met up with us at the Zion Visitor Center. We sold quite a few more books there than at Sundancer, but a lot of people looked a little skeptical--like they didn't think I looked old enough to have written a book (a visitor at the Lincoln Home told me the other day that I look like I'm 12). It was a lot of fun though. After the book signing and hiking, some took naps and others went searching for cool rocks at the Springdale rock shop, and we found some delicious treats at the Springfield Fruit Company.

Then it was time for more swimming!!! It was fun and very refreshing. That evening we had a delicious family dinner at Pioneer Lodge, and then we enjoyed walking around downtown Springdale--just like when we Taylor kids were younger. Springdale has changed a lot since we first started taking family trips there--but one thing hasn't changed: it is still a wonderful place to be together as a family. We have so many happy memories there.

On Sunday we went over to the town of Virgin for church and then had a fun family picnic out behind the church before everyone headed out. It was so sad to leave--but happy because we'd had such a wonderful time together.

The Barretts and Agates had visited Grandma Farnsworth and Grandpa Dick before heading to Zion, so they took off for home while Mom, Dad, Greg, and I went over to St. George to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It was, as always, wonderful to see them! We had a fun visit, and then, unfortunately, it was time to go. I was sad to leave but once again happy that we'd had such a good time.

Greg and I drove back to Arizona and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We made a stop at another of our favorite national parks: Pipe Spring National Monument--which was originally built by great great great great grandpa Anson Perry Winsor. We enjoyed one more evening with Greg's parents before heading back to the Phoenix airport early on Monday morning. As is always the case when one returns from vacation, it was hard to get back to reality, but we were glad to see our animal children (and they were glad to see us too). Lily has been extra cuddly ever since we got home. Poor Big Spike has been a little sick, but he and Greg went to the vet today, so he's feeling a bit better. Things have been crazier than ever at work this week, but luckily I only had three days before reaching my weekend!

A Royal Trip

Before I write about our latest trip to Arizona/Utah, I need to do a bit of catch-up on our trip to Kansas City! Things were so hectic between our two trips that I didn't have a chance to tell you about our fun adventures. On Friday, July 17, Greg and I headed out for Kansas City, Missouri. We of course had to stop in Hannibal, Missouri--home of Mark Twain. We didn't stay there long, but we got a picture in front of Samuel Clemens' boyhood home. I absolutely love Hannibal.

Our next stop was the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site in Lexington, Missouri. Mom, Dad, and I first discovered this site back in 2004 when we were visiting the area, and it was here that I first learned about a man named Sterling Price. Little did I know that he would become the obsession of my senior year of college. Sterling Price was heavily involved in the 1838 Mormon persecutions in Missouri, and his later life as a Confederate general is absolutely facinating. His own commander-in-chief Jefferson Davis even hated him. He is quite the interesting (and evil) man!

The battlefield is really neat--you can even still see some trenches that were dug by Union troops. This picture was taken in front of the haunted Anderson House--right smack in the middle of the battlefield. The home was used as a hospital for both the Union and Confederate Armies. Unfortunately Sterling Price and his Confederates were victorious at this early Civil War battle.

Our next stop was the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri. His house there is so beautiful! We found it funny that the NPS visitor center is located five blocks from the actual house. They must lose a lot of visitors--because we have a hard enough time getting people from the Lincoln Home visitor center down a half block to the home! The house is so cool, and we enjoyed our tour--except for the fact that our ranger guide kept dropping jabs at George Bush, which was not cool. Rangers are not supposed to discuss their political opinions with visitors. But anyway, it was really neat to see Harry Truman's house. He was one of the few good Democratic Presidents :-) That was quite the bold and brave thing he did in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. Of course that was a controversial move, but many lives were saved by putting an abrupt end to the war.

Greg and I had lunch at a fun little place that Mom, Dad, and I discovered back in 2004 called Dave's Deli. I had some awesome sweet potato fries covered in cinnamon and sugar! Then we went to Clinton's Soda Fountain--the place where Harry Truman got his first job. It is a cool little place, and Greg and I had some divine blackberry cobbler ice cream. They had a map on the wall where people are supposed to stick a pin indicating where in the country they are from. There is an unusually high concentration of pins in Utah :-)

Next it was off to our totally awesome hotel: the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex. Our room was really nice, and the best part was that we got to stay there for free (courtesy of my Citi travel rewards card)! The hotel is very close to both Arrowhead Stadium (home of the KC Chiefs) and Kauffman Stadium (home of the KC Royals). Our destination was Kauffman Stadium where I went to my first Royals game. Greg's favorite team is the Royals, and he is always a good sport to take me to Cardinals games--so it was fun to finally go to a Royals game. Our seats were freaking awesome! We were on the second row right by first base. When there is a sign right in front of your seats telling you to watch for bats and balls leaving the field, you know you're close to the action.

Before the actual game, they had a Hall of Fame game featuring some of the Kansas City greats including George Brett. The game was really fun to watch, and all of the players had a good time joking around with each other. At one point, a player from Cuba was up to bat, and one of the others on the field (they all had microphones) said, "Let's sing the Cuban national anthem: 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat." :-) It was really fun to watch.

Then the big game started. It was an absolutely perfect evening for baseball. It was about 75 degrees, sunny, and beautiful outside. The Royals were playing the Tampa Bay Rays.

We were totally close to the action! Unfortunately the Royals lost, but it was really close (8-7). We got to see some great plays including a three-run homer by Mike Jacobs.

An added bonus was Fireworks Friday. They had a great fireworks display at the stadium.

On Saturday, July 18, Greg and I drove over to Kansas to see his old stomping grounds. We even got to stop at another Civil War-related site: the Battle of Blackjack Battlefield and Nature Park. John Brown and some of his anti-slavery followers fought with some pro-slavery Kansans here on June 2, 1856. This was part of the "Bleeding Kansas" ordeal which really got things rolling toward the Civil War.

That afternoon we met up with some of Greg's friends from high school and went back to Kansas City to see the WWI museum. Unfortunately we were a little late to tour the museum, but we enjoyed walking around the astonishing monument they have there. And we at least had time to hit the gift shop before the museum closed. We'll have to go back another time.

There was also a really nice view of Kansas City from the WWI monument observation area. We then went down to Union Station (the big building in the middle of this picture) and explored until it was time for Greg and me to head to his 10 year high school reunion. The reunion was a lot of fun, and Greg had a good time catching up with some of his high school buddies. We drove home that night and had time for just a few hours of sleep before I went back to work the next day. What a fun mini road trip we had!

Coveralls for Cannonballs

A new adventure has begun at the Lincoln Home! I have officially become one of the "presenters." Each day at 2:00 in the Visitor Center, we have a special Bicentennial program done by one of the rangers. I volunteered to do a program about Illinois in the Civil War (I researched this topic while I was at BYU) if they ever needed a substitute, and my boss Mike loved the idea. I ended up even finding who from the Lincolns' neighborhood served in the Civil War--something that no one has researched before! A couple of the regular presenter rangers were gone this week, so my program, "Trading Coveralls for Cannonballs: Illinois in the Civil War," debuted on Monday afternoon. It was a big hit! Even the Superintendent came to the program and said he enjoyed it, so that made me feel good (and relieved). I did the program again today, and they are thinking to put me on the official calendar of events for August--so I would give the presentation every Monday afternoon. As I have done more research on the topic, I have found some really remarkable stories about different soldiers in the Civil War.

This is how I end the program:

Those Illinois farmers who traded their coveralls for cannonballs dedicated themselves wholly to the betterment of their country. Their toil fortified Illinois’s cornfields, and their bravery consecrated America’s battlefields.

In museums, movies, books, and reenactments, Civil War soldiers are remembered for participating in one of the most defining moments in American history. Though we can never truly understand the extent of their sacrifices, we can be inspired by their courage.

Working on this project has been a lot of fun. I am happy, however, to have a break from the Lincoln Home for a couple of days :-) Tomorrow Greg and I are heading to Kansas City to go to a Royals game and then attend Greg's 10 year high school reunion on Saturday. We are both really looking forward to a mini road trip!

Too Many Marys

Oh dear, my life at the Lincoln Home increases in absurdity every day :-) Today I was inundated with Abraham and Mary Todd Lincolns--literally. There is something called the Mary Lincoln Coterie, which is basically a bunch of ladies who think they look like Mary Todd Lincoln and travel around the country together. They have an annual pilgrimage to Springfield during July to remember Mary's death on July 16, 1882. This year, one of their bunch decided to come do a program at the Lincoln Home. It was called "Lincoln Letters" and was a reader's theater featuring letters between Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln during different stages of their lives. I did not schedule this program but was given the task of coordinating it. Coordinating it was quite a feat, as today's particular Mary Lincoln was very high maintenance. And then pulling off the program today was an even more miraculous doing. Because the program took place at 10:00 this morning--when we're not very busy at the park--there weren't very many visitors who attended the program. Most of the people in the audience were Abraham or Mary Lincolns. My boss Laura was not there today, so I had to put out all of the unanticipated "fires." Let's just say that five minutes before the program started, I was running around trying to find a knife and fork for Mary to use when she cut a piece of real cake during one of the scenes. My job during the program was to dim the lights in between each of the "scenes," but Abe and Mary kept saying things that were not on their script, so that was quite a challenge. Anyway, the program went well, and we finally got Mary, Abe, and all of their props cleared out of the theater. By the way, today's Mary and Abe looked nothing like the real Mary and Abe! Abraham Lincoln was tall--not husky. Today's Abe seriously looked just like Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies. And the real Mary Lincoln was known to be "plump" later in life, but today's Mary was much too buxom. Needless to say, by 12:00, when I had finally cleared all of the Marys and Abes from the site, I was pooped--and then I had to give tours all afternoon. Today's Mary Lincoln is coming back tomorrow to do a different program, so I'm trying to gear up for that (in other words I need to get lots of sleep tonight and have lots of caffeine for breakfast--just kidding, sort of).

Then after the Mary Lincoln ordeals of the morning, Ranger Jim and I were standing outside the Visitor Center when a crazy man wandered up to us. He was clearly drunk and was carrying a brown box around with him. He also had a cigarette in one hand. He said, "Y'all 're tryin' ta kill everyone! I knews it was y'all. Anybody got a light?" Luckily Ranger Jim had a radio with him so we could call Law Enforcement Ranger David. The drunk crazy man then started asking visitors for a light--and telling them how "They all's tryin' to kill y'all." Ranger David confronted the man who then started freaking out. David called for backup from the Springfield PD, and finally they got the guy calmed down. I'm not sure what happened after that, but I imagine that they wrote him a ticket and sent him on his merry way.

A couple of other funny things have happened during the last few days. On Sunday I had a family on a tour, and one of the girls was wearing a Nauvoo necklace. After the tour we started talking about Nauvoo, and it turns out that this family was from Provo. We talked for a while and discovered that the dad--who looked really familiar to me--was in one of my education classes at UVSC clear back in 2003! Then yesterday I had a lady on my tour who looked just like me--it was really weird and kind of freaky. She said that her friend had visited the Lincoln Home a few weeks ago and said that their tour guide, Tiffany, looked just like her. So they thought they would come see for themselves--and it was really true--except that she had red hair and freckles. They say we all have a twin somewhere . . .